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If you were to ask entrepreneurs what their favorite part about
their job is, odds are, doing taxes is at or near the bottom of
the list. Despite this, keeping good financials is paramount to
run an effective business. And fortunately for entrepreneurs,
accounting is becoming more streamlined and easier than ever.

The accounting profession has changed drastically in the last
five years and cloud-based solutions such as Xero, SageOne and
FreshBooks have emerged, allowing accounting professionals and
their clients a real-time view into their financials.
Additionally, the cloud has enabled many financial systems such
as payroll and time tracking to be automated and integrated into
accounting platforms, making number crunching not so
daunting. These innovations combined have enabled
accountants to do what they do best -- provide up-to-date
financial counsel to their clients so they can focus more on
growing their business.

While these developments are a benefit to small businesses and
accountants, there are still preparatory tactics SMBs can employ
to make the best use of these tools and benefit their bottom
line.

Here are a few tips and best practices to help small business
owners keep their visionary outlook, while enabling their
accounting partners to serve them with the most accurate
financial counsel.

Spread out tax payments. If you have trouble
saving for your quarterly estimated tax payments, set aside funds
each month instead. Treat it like any other monthly operating
expense, that way it won’t seem like such a chunk when payment
comes due.

Back to the future. It’s good practice to live
in the “now,” but in business, as well as in life, you should be
thinking about and planning for, the future. As a business owner
if you’re not looking three to five years into the future, you
are behind the competition.

It’s not personal, it’s business. Have a
dedicated business checking account and business credit card. If
your business checking is low on funds, it's easier to account
for making a loan to your business than it is to account for
business expenses paid from a personal account.

Monitor and measure. Look at your company's
financial performance regularly and use backwards-looking
financial statements to project forward revenue, expenses and
cash flow. You can't manage what you don't measure. Having this
knowledge will help you make better decisions.

The time is now! If you have dragged your feet
about hiring an accountant or bookkeeper for your
business get one today. Not just because it makes good
financial sense to have an accountant lined up before the tax
crunch, but also because accountants rosters fill up the closer
it gets to tax time, making it hard to take on new clients. If
they do take you on, chances are it will be at a much higher rate
than if you'd started working with them earlier.